Patrice Evra has hilariously recalled enduring a ‘boring’ lunch at Cristiano Ronaldo’s house – with the Manchester United legend sharing just salad, plain chicken and water with his former team-mate.
Ronaldo’s determination to have the perfect diet has left players at Old Trafford in awe, and it is no surprise that this sheer drive has resulted in him winning countless trophies and personal accolades.
But Evra, who is now retired and played alongside the superstar between 2006 and 2009, has jokingly shared his distaste for Ronaldo’s uninspired culinary choices.
Patrice Evra has hilariously recalled having a ‘boring’ lunch with Cristiano Ronaldo at his house
He told talkSPORT: ‘Cristiano, first of all, as a person and human being, is so generous, so nice and people don’t see that face. But he is a winner. He is addicted.
‘For example, when we had training at 10am, Cristiano was already there for 8am. When we had finished training, he was still on the pitch practicing.
‘When he invited me for lunch… don’t ever go for lunch, because you are going to have one of the most boring lunches at Cristiano’s; it is salad, plain chicken and water. There isn’t even fizzy water.
Ronaldo is famed for his diet, which sees him eat little and often, and extraordinary physique
But Evra has been left unimpressed by his former team-mate’s uninspired culinary choices
‘After that, we went into the garden, trained for a little bit, went swimming, went to the sauna and at one point I looked at him and said: “Bro, we have just finished a training session, why do we have to a second training session?”‘
This is not the first time Evra has mentioned Ronaldo’s meals. The now 40-year-old, back in 2019, shared a picture of the two stars together at a lavish event, and comically added in what they may have been saying at the time.
His weet read: ‘@Cristiano: “Are you coming for lunch or no?” Me: “Thank you but I just retire so I don’t need another training session.”‘
And just two weeks before that post, Evra again took another cheeky dig about how lunch with Ronaldo is like taking part in his strict fitness regime.
‘He is a machine!’ the ex-full back wrote, accompanied by several laughing emojis. ‘Just don’t go to his house for lunch it’s like another training session!’
Since Ronaldo sealed his sensational second spell at United, desserts and sweet treats are off the menu – with players keen to fall in line and follow the talisman’s example in eating healthily and cutting out unnecessary calories.
Ahead of his stunning two-goal impact against Newcastle in September, Ronaldo set the tone for how he would take care of his body. Goalkeeper Lee Grant revealed that, as a result, not one team-mate went up for dessert after their dinner.
He told talkSPORT: ‘To give you one instance of the impact he is having on the group right. This was Friday night in the hotel.
Ronaldo made an instant impact in his second United spell, with other stars cutting out sweets
‘So, as you guys will be aware, you finish your dinner and usually on a Friday night you’ve got some cheat stuff out.
‘You’ve got some apple crumble and custard or you’ve got a bit of brownie and cream or whatnot.
‘I tell you now, not one player touched the apple crumble and custard, not one player went up for that brownie because everybody was sat down.
‘One of the lads said to me, “What has Cristiano got on his plate?”
Ronaldo also eats plenty of fish but typically avoids having red meat or eating anything frozen
‘So we were having a little goosey gander at what he has got and obviously it is the cleanest, most healthy plate you can imagine.
‘And it just cracked me up how not one single player dared get up and have that junk food that was laid out.’
Ronaldo’s ability to remain at an elite level is down to his diet and fitness. He will typically eat little, but often.
A diet involving six high-protein mini-meals a day is behind Ronaldo’s age-defying heroics
His routine consists of six meals a day, spread out in three to four hour intervals, to help him meet his high nutritional demands.
The forward also makes use of a personal nutritionist, and eats whole grains, fresh fruit and lean proteins contained in fish such as swordfish, sea bass, sea bream and cod. As a rule, these are always fresh and never frozen.
There is a lot of salad on Ronaldo’s plate, too, as Evra discovered many years ago, and for breakfast he will eat cheese, ham, low-fat yoghurt, fruit and avocado toast.